Both of them fell silent after that, Velvet lost in her pondering and the Prophet, who started, well, continued knitting something.

‘Knitting’ as a loose praise. It was making an atrocious job of it, and the resulting cloth was full of knots and clumps, so ugly that it made Velvet’s eyebrows twitch. It resembled a shirt, though.

“Are you cold?” She asked. Maybe the Prophet was making a shirt because it was dawn already? It had been dawn for a while, but nothing guaranteed that night wouldn’t fall.

The Prophet raised its head and looked at her, laughing softly. “Not at all. I’m knitting fate.”

Is fate that ugly to watch? She thought, folding her knees to sit in front of the Prophet, watching it work.

They stood like that for a while, in silence. Velvet paid all her attention to the threads movements, eventually finding some sort of ‘sense’ between them. Some parts were being knitted quite nicely, while some were done more erratic. But, these ‘errors’ had some sense on their location.

“What do these clumps represent?” She asked.

“The corruption of fate, the things I cannot see.”

It wasn’t the first time Velvet had heard about the corruption of fate. Lothrigern had also mentioned it, but, alas, it wasn’t like He explained himself afterwards.

Velvet had the feeling that He didn’t exactly like speaking to humans, or well, her, but, since Lothrigern was known for being a danger to call, the problem didn’t lay on Velvet, but humans as a whole.

In fact, she had bragging rights, that she couldn’t brag about to anyone, of not having been killed by meeting Lothrigern.

“What is the corruption of fate?” Maybe she would have more luck with the Prophet, than with the Deriliam.

Her hopes were answered when the Prophet opened its mouth. “It’s not a what, but a who.” And then, quickly destroyed. “A who which I can’t see, whenever is the past, the present or the future.”

“So there’s nothing you can tell me?”

“I didn’t say that. Even when you can’t see someone, you can see the aftermath of their actions, and how those changed what was fated to happen.” The Prophet sighed. “When the dead don’t die, and the living do, what I saw and what I will see differ quite a bit, you see?”

She did see, and by that, she meant understand, but disagree.

As a human, Velvet didn’t like the idea of having a predestined fate. Not many humans did, to the exception of the ones who wanted something to blame when things went wrong and something to praise when they went good. Asides from those, most of them believed in their own skills and decisions, and in their future being shaped by those.

And, even if fate existed, everyone believed themselves to be the exception, the one capable of changing the end.

So, the idea of fate becoming corrupted, sounded akin to free choic-

The Prophet laughed, as if mocking Velvet’s thoughts. “It’s not a good thing. It’s called the corruption of fate for a reason, not the liberator of fate, or the chainbreaker of destiny.”

“Why?”

“Because if fate’s goal is to save the world, then the corruption’s goal is to cause the biggest amount of destruction.”

Velvet frowned, her barely positive outlook crushed. “And what makes you say that?”

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“Because it’s what I’ve seen. Everytime it moves, I see the world burn…” The Prophet looked up, before looking again at Velvet, tilting its head. “No, that’s not correct. What I should say is, I see the world melting.”

Velvet fell silent at that. Was the Prophet referring to the Chained M-

“Yes, I am.”

“How do you-”

“I can read your mind.”

Well stop.

“It’s not that sim-”

“And stop interrupting me too.”

Both of them stared at each other again in silence, each one taunting the other to be the one that broke down the stalemate. Even the Prophet had stopped knitting by now, maintaining the staredown.

…

…

…

“I know how our whole conversation will play out.” The Prophet said, breaking the stalemate with a sigh. “So for-gi-ve-me for trying to rush things.”

That was the fakest apology Velvet had ever heard, but she couldn’t exactly blame the Prophet. Knowing the future should make the present pretty boring, as if re-reading a book while being unable to skip the boring parts.

That would make speaking with me one of the boring parts… Velvet thought, the corners of her mouth twitching. At least the Prophet had the decency of going back to knitting instead of answering those assumptions.

“So, this corruption of fate…” Velvet went back to the important matter. “If it can cause changes, it needs a physical form or something similar, no?”

“It’s akin to a parasite.” The Prophet nodded.

Velvet thought for a bit, before asking. “It's on Dianthus?”

The Prophet didn’t answer, but its smile was all the confirmation she needed. It made sense, after all. If the corruption of fate needed someone that couldn’t be sealed due to dooming the world with them, then the half-immortal, destiny’s child Chosen One would be the best target.

Also, she hadn’t forgotten what happened during their confrontation against Frenese. Dianthus had told her that he had seen what would happen, and that he wanted to change how it ended. In fact, if one were to believe him, they did change how it ended.

Dianthus wasn’t the Prophet, but the Chosen One. If he could make prophecies, the one about his own fate wouldn't be incomplete, just like she had been told.

So, the fact that Dianthus had a way to know the future supported her deduction of him being related to fate’s corruption. A guess pretty much confirmed by the Prophet.

“Was he also kidnapped by you?” Velvet asked after a moment.

“No.” The Prophet said, making Velvet grimace.

So, knowing who the corruption of fate inhabited was good, but the thing was… Dianthus was technically lost.

“Do you know where he is?”

“I told you already, I can’t see him.” The Prophet waited until Velvet clicked her tongue, before adding. “But I know who has him.”

Why did you pause then? Weren’t you the one that wanted to rush things? Dianthus can be annoying, but you are so too! Does being picked by fate make you annoying? Is that it?

Now, was Dianthus annoying because he had a fate corrupting parasite, or was he annoying and also had a fate corrupting parasite? Maybe the parasite was annoying too.

The Prophet waved its deformed body side to side, clearly having fun at her cost, but it was also keeping its empty eyes on her, as if waiting for Velvet to reach some conclusion on her own.

So Velvet obliged, monologuing. “You wouldn’t have brought me here just for a chat, so you probably want me to go get his ass, no?”

“Yes.”

“Well no. Unless you have some amazing cheat that I can use to defeat an archmage, that I get to keep after doing so. Or will you offer an ‘absolute path to victory, prophecy approved’?”

“Oh, no. You could never defeat him. Any sort of confrontation between you two ends up with your death.”

“Thanks for your honesty.”

“I can tell you all the ways you die.”

“You can also not.”

The Prophet did the thing again where it shut up, waiting for Velvet to keep going while staring at her with its twisted, empty eyes.

“What is the archmage’s goal?”

“To clean the Chosen One from fate’s corruption,” This time, it didn’t wait for Velvet to ask. “But, by doing so, he’s also erasing his original fate, and the reason why he exists.”

“He believes in the indomitable spirit of humanity, and their possibilities of defeating Permafrost without relying on fate. As much as I would love to support that idea, this time hope won’t save anyone. Humanity doesn’t have the time to develop a solution.”

“But alas, old people are very stubborn, even more so when they are mages. All that miasma that passed through his head all these centuries damaged his brain. Of course, all mages are kinda coo-coo in the head though.”

“Oi.”

“You agree, so cry about it.”

“It’s your neck so long so it's easier to strangle?”

“I know you won’t do it.”

Velvet took a deep sigh, before asking. “Can’t there be a replacement?”

“Yes, but that new Chosen One would have to be born and then grow. If we waste another twenty years, then we would lose it all to Permafrost.”

“That’s too much of a coincidence, isn’t it?” The Prophet couldn’t completely get rid of Dianthus, who was the cradle of one problem and the solution to another.

“Of course, it was all planned by the corruption of fate. If we get rid of it completely, we lose completely.”

“Does Dianthus know?”

“I don’t know. Feel free to ask him. Chosen Ones are kinda simple, with or without corruption.”

The Prophet was again implying sending Velvet to the Archmage. It wasn’t like she didn’t know how little of a choice she had, since well, for starters, she didn’t know how to get out of this island.

But she wanted to get something out from doing it.